"The Curse of Crow Hollow" by Billy Coffey

My personal rule of starting a new novel is 100 pages.  I'll give any book 100 pages before making the decision on whether to continue and spend the investment of my reading capital.  Sometimes I give it up, if the book fails to draw me in, or I find it just not my thing.   Stephen King's "The Tommyknockers" - gave up.  "Deadwood" by Pete Dexter, a tremendously popular book by fans and critics - the pacing was all off for me, and I couldn't finish.  "Lamb", by Christopher Moore, again, a majorly popular writer - I didn't make it to word one on page 101.  And others, usually horror novels by lesser known authors, have been stricken by the 100 page rule.

You can see where this is going.  "House of Leaves", reviewed previously, made it well past the 100-page test.  "The Curse of Crow Hollow" didn't.

The first 50 pages of "The Curse of Crow Hollow" were fine, were engaging if not gripping, and set the stage for what was potentially a good October supernatural read.  A small group of teenagers in rural, southern Crow Hollow, instead of going to a party in the usual teen spot in Harper's Field went to The Mines, the legendary, haunted, forbidden place where teens in a horror story always go.  Terror starts when a stolen diamond bracelet is re-stolen, and cloven hoofprints seared into the hard ground, up and down trees, and ending then re-emerging across a pond lead to the bracelet at the remote cabin of the local rumored witch.  The teens encounter the witch herself, and hear the raging roars and growls of something, presumably the owner of the cloven hooves, locked inside the shed.  The teens escape, but not without terrifying consequence.

Sounds good so far.  Teens in trouble.  A witch.  A Jersey Devil-like thing imprisoned and controlled by the witch.  Promising.

The next 50 pages though, for me, didn't resonate.  The focus shifted to the parents and other adults in Crow Hollow, their reactions to the returns of the teens, and bits and pieces of backstory.  The story moved along slowly, losing the tension that had been established earlier.  Perhaps this was foundation-building for a terrific story - I'll never know.  Disinterest took hold, and I set the book aside.

The story was written partly in the usual omniscient third-person narrative, but also partly in first-person, Crow Hollow-resident storyteller point of view.  These styles wove in and out too seamlessly, and it was distracting to me as a reader.  The lack of consistent voice was ultimately what led me to give up and move on to another selection.

Billy Coffey has many fans, based on reviews on Amazon, and "The Curse of Crow Hollow" has many positive reviews.  It may be a perfect tale for many readers out there.  And, with Pete Dexter and Stephen King, Billy Coffey has fine company as an author whose one book just didn't strike a positive chord with me.  "The Curse of Crow Hollow" might be a great selection for you, but for me, it wasn't.

The publisher provided an ARC of "The Curse of Crow Hollow" for review purposes.

Ronda Rousey: "My Fight Your Fight"

Ronda Rousey's "My Fight Your Fight" hit the bookshelves with impeccable timing, just as her fame and popularity attained new heights and reached audiences well beyond the usual UFC/MMA crowd.  Like myself, to be sure.  The stories of Rousey's bouts ending in mere seconds (12 seconds?!!?! How is that even possible?) reached the mainstream, and her combination of good looks, toughness, athleticism, and entertainment marketing converged during her book tour.  I happened upon her book tour scheduled stop in Kansas City just a few days prior to the event, and decided to attend and check out the Rousey-pandemonium first hand.  So, my two sons and I went to see and meet Ronda in person.

The book signing was crowded and as raucous as a book-signing can be, though nothing got out of control, thanks to police presence as well as Rousey's entourage.  Quickly the "no pictures from the stage" rule dissolved away, through the crowd still moved through the book queue quickly.  Ronda shook hands, posed, and spoke to each person coming through the line.  It was a great event.  Capping the event was Ronda coming down from the stage to greet a wheelchair-bound special needs fan.  She spent a few minutes talking to the the young man, who was ecstatic to be able to meet and share some time with the Champ.

Enough about the booksigning - how about the book?  "My Fight Your Fight" is a very good sports memoir/autobiography.  Ms. Rousey describes her youth, including the tragic death-by-suicide of her fathter, and her subsequent rise through the USA Judo ranks, culminating in two Olympic games.  Her story continues on to her few amateur MMA bouts, and then her turning pro in the UFC, through her current status as the undisputed most popular athlete in the ranks.

As a framework, each chapter begins with a few paragraphs about achievement, hard work, no-pain-no-gain, stuggles-bearing-success, and the like.  This framework does provide an effective motivational thread through the book, but overall does not add significant interest.  It's OK, but that's it.  

Ronda's insight and story about her years in the world of Olympic-caliber judo, though, are fascinating.  The struggles with coaching, the terrifying (to me) methods of weight-cutting, and the minimal support from the governing association are eye-opening and superbly interesting parts of this sports auto-bio.  The reader gets a close sense of what it takes in terms of day-to-day and also months-long efforts to reach the peak of the sport.

What also works in "My Fight Your Fight" are Ronda's descriptions of her bouts and opponents.  She gives us detailed insights into the athletes that she has fought, and move-by-move accounts of the fights.  I found myself going to Youtube to watch the fights after reading her detailed descriptions, which always include her recollections of her thoughts during the matches.  These chapters were the best of the book.

Der Bingle recommends "My Fight Your Fight".

"House of Leaves" by Mark Z. Danielewski

"House of Leaves" by Mark Z. Danielewski was originally published in 2000, and it was at least a couple years later that I read about it, and purchased my own copy after being very intrigued about the reviews and descriptions of the book.  It's been sitting on my bookshelf ever since, waiting for the right time to open it and begin the daunting project of reading.  At over 700 pages, it would seem to be a novel that would take quite a bit of time to finish.  And, flipping through the pages and seeing its structure adds the 'project' qualifier to the reading experience.  Every October I try to dive into books and stories of horror and the macabre, being with the spirit of the Halloween season, and so this year with October approaching, I decided to start "House of Leaves".  If I didn't like it, I'd concede and not make the presumably weeks-long investment in finishing, having given it my best shot before moving on.

One week and 709 pages later, I have finished "House of Leaves".

This novel was intriguing, scary, gripping, tedious, challenging, and a total trip of a reading experience.  It's unlike any other book I've ever read, and it will be for you as well, should you decide to take it on.

"House of Leaves" is about a house that is bigger on the inside than the outside.  (Not really like a Tardis, no...).  But not really.  It's about a movie that may or may not exist about a house that is bigger on the inside than the outside.  But, it's really about a blind man's excruciatingly-detailed analysis of the movie that may or may not exist, written as he lived inside a barricaded room, because of the movie that may or may not exist.  Er, not really.  It's about the narrator, Johnny Truant, finding the blind man's (Zampano is his name) manuscript about the movie about the house, and his descent into madness while reading and annotating Zampano's pages.  Sort of.  Ultimately it's about all of these things, and perhaps more, or perhaps less.

The book is recursive to a degree.  There are John Barth-ian elements of a book within a book, or maybe a book that is self-aware.  The book itself draws the reader in to the plot in many creative and very satisfying ways.  You will feel claustrophobic, you will experience an escape along with the characters, you will feel the influence of the house and all of its terrifying peculiarities.

Whew.

The core of the book, the story of the house and its endlessness (frequently compared to the classic labyrinth), was the most satisfying element of the novel.  An extra quarter-inch inside the house revealed concurrently with a suddenly discovered new room gets your attention.  A hallway that shouldn't exist but takes 5 1/2 minutes to traverse grabs you.  A door leading to an endless(?) spiral staircase sucks you in for good.  This central story is as good and scary as any other classic tale of horror.  It's what kept me going.

Less interesting to me was Johnny Truant's story, woven in through extended footnotes until several chapters at the end.  Although, I'm sure that Johnny's story was the actual central theme, it still didn't hold my attention as much, and I found myself working through his notes just to get back to the story of the house.

Every reader of "House of Leaves" is likely to have a different experience.  It's a masterwork of vision by the author, and makes the reader a true participant in the story as no other.

There are many different editions of "House of Leaves".  Fonts, color, and printing abnormalities are essential to the story, as you'll see in the following pictures.  The first two are representative of my edition.  The third is from a more deluxe edition, with additional colors and crazy printing.

"House of Leaves" is an adventure.  Its 709 pages went by much faster than I ever imagined they could.  If you're up for a challenge, check it out.